MadMup.com

Well, it isn’t yet, but it’s about to be.

I’ve been to Texas before, but that was mostly business. This trip is all about the fun!

We had an improv show last night, and I didn’t get home until after 11. I saw the clock tick over midnight, which made the 3:50 alarm a hard thing to hear. Luckily I had the backup 4:00 alarm set in the other room: Windows Media Player blasting “Godzilla” by Blue Öyster Cult.

So now I’m sitting in the Indianapolis airport, waiting for the boarding call for the flight to Minneapolis. Why I’m going from Indy to Minneapolis to Dallas, I don’t know, but I guess I’m supposed to believe the airlines know better than I do on how best to get to places. That whole “shortest distance between two points is a straight line” business doesn’t apply to flights, I guess. Kids! Stop studying math! It’ll help you not a whit in real life!

I’m off to meet new people, re-meet old people, and watch a football game. Not a bad way to spend a weekend, even if I didn’t get much sleep to start it off. The Orange Ka-BAM I had from the Smoothie King in the airport here should make up for the lack of sleep, and the rest of it will take care of itself.

Look at me being all adventurous!

Talking is just IM without the keyboard.

– My friend Carolyn

I learned an important lesson today. But first, some background:

I am currently reading a book entitled “Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers.” The author, Mary Roach, takes a funny but respectful and informative look at what happens to the human body after the person using it has died. I’m not too far along in the book but it’s already been fascinating. So far she’s talked about how bodies are used for medical research and surgery practice and delved into a history of the earliest scientists who would pay people to steal the bodies of the recently dead so they could… well, let’s say “study” them.

The author strikes the right tone, making the book readable – a difficult task for so difficult a subject – and even enjoyable. In an age where three different versions of CSI are on the air, a book like this gives someone a resource for learning more about the processes discussed (and sometimes shown).

For the most part, I’ve been able to detach myself from the details which could be considered horrific. Death ain’t pretty, after all. Today, though, the book took a turn and taught me a valuable lesson in the process. That lesson is this:

No matter how important the work and how interesting the discussion about cadaver research farms (where they study the process of decay), it is not a good substitution for doing the crossword puzzle at lunch.

Take it from me.